Customer Reviews

Can Definitely Hear Radio Influence, But Still Very Good

by
Chu1046

I've loved K'naan since the first time I heard "In The Beginning". With this album, you can definitely hear the influence of his producers/what will be played on the radio, but you still also hear what makes K'naan the unique artist that he is.

K'naan has already said himself that these songs weren't all necessarily what he had in mind when making the album, and you can tell. There are songs like "Alone (Feat. will.i.am)", where it's blatantly obvious that K'naan and the producers are just trying to put a song together that the general public would listen to.

But for every "Alone", there's "The Wall", "The Seed", or "Simple", where you can hear K'naan's unique sound, unique story-telling, etc.

If you want to hear the songs that could be heard on the radio, I would recommend:Is Anybody Out There (Feat. Nelly Furtado)Hurt Me TomorrowSleep When We Die (Feat. Keith Richards)The Sound of My Breaking HeartBetter (Produced by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic)

If you want to hear the songs that have made K'naan popular amongst his diehard fans (not counting the people that just like "Wavin' Flag":The WallThe SeedSimple70 ExcusesBulletproof Pride (Feat. Bono of U2)Nothing To LoseWaiting is a DrugGold in TimbuktuComing to America

Overall, I really love the songs I listed at the end, and some of the more radio-friendly songs are still good too. A lot of people will liken this album to Lupe Fiasco's Lasers because it was the CD that Lupe (and now K'naan) put out to appease their producers/get more radio play.

Sold out

by
Da nudge

I can't believe he went to commercialized music. His first album didn't get any play now it just seems he's putting stuff out to sell record. I'm disappointed in this album. It's just sad that he had to do this to one true fan of his lyrical form. It went from a unique rap story to radio pop.

Slightly Disappointed

by
Jon Burdette

There is a few good songs, but it's not as good his other albums.

Biography

Born: February 1, 1978 in Mogadishu, Somalia

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Years Active: '00s, '10s

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, just as the civil unrest that rocked the country was beginning, rapper K'NAAN spent the early years of his life trying to avoid death and listening to the hip-hop records sent to him from America by his father, who had left Somalia earlier. When K'NAAN (whose name means "traveler" in Somali) was 13, he, his mother, and his two siblings were able to leave their homeland and join relatives in Harlem, where they stayed briefly before moving to Rexdale, Ontario, where there...